Calming Signals for YOUR Dog.

mudpuppy

holding the muzzle like that is usually done as a punishment- and seems to be viewed that way by most dogs. You need to distinguish between "calm" and "subdued cause mom is mad/punishing me".

Trust me, he does not view this as a punishment and he knows very well that I'm not mad at him.  He will come and stick his nose in my hand on his own when he's nervous.  Like I said, there is no malice there, there's also very little pressure if any at all.  If we are just being lazy together he will come and stick his nose at me and I will rub the sides of his muzzle or skritch his Idiot Spot (that's what we call the very faint bit of white fur on his forehead) and he'll close his eyes and let his body go limp.   Its almost a subconscious movement.

I don't have a calming signal for Joey so much as a calming phrase.  When he's wound up like a top and getting a little too rambunctious, telling him "you're done" stops him in his tracks.  It was the funniest thing the first time I told him that because he stopped, looked at me and when I said it again, he tilted his head at me.  "What are these magic words you speak momma?"  Works like a charm ever since then.

I don't physically do anything. But, when Apollo gets super excieted (like when someone knew comes over) I say "that's enough" and he will go away to another room, and back off the person coming in. He LOVES new people so when I first got him to stop jumping on people I would say "that's enough" and toss a treat into our living room (off the entry way). He'd run and find it and let the person come in without getting harrassed by a wiggly Lab. Now, no more treat. It makes it a heck of a lot easier when we're having many people over.